Norway just
revised the guidelines for medical transitioning in youth. Specifically, puberty blockers, HRT, and surgeries will no longer be first-line clinical prescriptions and will be "restricted to research settings" (essentially the status of "illegal" psychedelics for mental health treatment in the US). There's concern that youth transition "research" as of yet hasn't taken into account the placebo effect. When kids claim they're doing better after transition, it's not necessarily that they're lying, but it could just be that they're getting the attention they seek and (at least for now) believe they have hope now that they're supposedly on the right path. I'm not sure what properly "controlled" research is going to look like for this population, but I look forward to seeing it.
West Virginia's state legislature also
passed a bill banning youth transition. It's not official until Republican Governor Jim Justice signs it, but I'm pretty sure he will. Interestingly, West Virginia is the state with the highest rate of "transgender minors" per capita. Critics insisted youth transition is "life-saving" by preventing suicide, so the revised bill now says those at risk of suicide may transition under age 18. You'd think this would defeat the purpose, but at least the claim "they'll kill themselves if not!" will now require actual evidence on the individual level, held to the same standard we'd use for determining if any minor is suicidal, not just taken as a given for everyone. It's a step!
